3 ms·
We will never, ever destroy TB. There are simply too many animal hosts for the disease. Hell, you can get it from your dog (http://www.petplace.com/dogs/tuber
by tsotha 15y ago
We will never, ever destroy TB. There are simply too many animal hosts for the disease. Hell, you can get it from your dog (http://www.petplace.com/dogs/tuberculosis-in-dogs/page1.aspx http://www.petplace.com/dogs/tuberculosis-in-dogs/page1.aspx). The reason we could get rid of smallpox, the only reason, is that smallpox is a disease found only in human beings. There aren't a whole lot of diseases like this. Polio is one, I think.
But most communicable diseases that afflict humans can also be found in animals. Influenza, plague, leprosy... good luck on those.
- dman 15y agoTime to start vaccinating animals?
- OstiaAntica 15y agoWe already do, especially for rabies.
- tsotha 15y agoWe do, but that's just to keep it one step away from us. We don't go out and vaccinate bats or rodents.
- dodedo 15y agoSome of those would be easier to exterminate than others. Many animals carry influenza or plague, but isn't leprosy limited to humans and armadillos?
- tsotha 15y agoI don't know. But even if it's true, and even assuming we can develop a vaccine, how do you propose to go out and vaccinate every nine-banded armadillo, not missing even one population large enough to harbor the disease? This isn't an endangered species - they're all over the southeastern US.
- weel 15y agoYou only need herd immunity. There is experience with vaccinating wild animal populations against rabies.
- tsotha 15y agoWell, okay, but I notice rabies is pretty ubiquitous. Rabid bats turn up where I live on a regular basis.
- dodedo 15y agoIf it were a serious enough threat to the public health we could always exterminate the armadillo species. Make an animal legal to hunt, add a bounty, and the population will be decimated in under a decade.